Meet Hubert Chang. Hubert Chang claims that as a NYU Ph.D student in 1997 he helped Larry Page and Sergey Brin create Google. Here is what he had to say three days ago on Vimeo:
Google was designed in 1997 Feb by Hubert Chang (me), Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. I received my Ph.D. from NYU in late 2002. cs.nyu.edu/~hubert/ Larry, Sergey were introduced to me through Prof. Motwani of Stanford Computer science department. Prof. Motwani visited NYU in 1996 summer; that’s how I met Prof. Motwani. Through intensive collaboration with Larry and Sergey, Google was designed. The plan includes the search engine algorithm, business model, the name of the company, a graduate school like corp culture, the outline of system architecture and Google’s growing path. Because I had personal cause to pursue for Ph.D., I told them I will contact them years afterwards, assuming I have finished my Ph.D. In late 2002, I got my Ph.D. from computer science department of New York University… Details… please watch the video. Larry’s homepage: infolab.stanford.edu/~page Sergey’s homepage: www-db.stanford.edu/~sergey Hubert’s homepage: cs.nyu.edu/~hubert/
Today T-Mobile announced, with Google and HTC, the new G1 Android based phone. The phone will be available on October 22, 2008 and will run $179 with a 2 year contract (and $18 upgrade charge for current customers, how nice).
T-Mobile has the announcement online for everyone to watch here.
The T-Mobile G1 with Google is the first commercially available phone to run on the ‘Android’ operating system, which empowers developers with tools to create and offer consumers applications that add value to their lives.
Apple announced today that the USB power adapter, included with the iPhone 3G, has a chance for the prongs to break off in the outlet, making it a risk for electrical shock. The adapters included in the exchange program were sold with the iPhone 3G or bought as replacements in:
US
Japan
Canada
Mexico
Several Latin American countries
Apple will be allowing people to exchange the USB adapters via mail order or at an Apple Store.
You can place your order for the exchange here which will be shipped after October 10th or you can wait to visit an Apple retail store on or after October 10th.
The three new Microsoft ads, without Jerry Seinfeld, are out now. They counter Apple’s “I’m a PC” stereotype by showing a diverse group of people exclaiming to be “a PC”.
In my personal opinion these are done pretty well and can become catchy. Hearing the I’m a PC over and over makes it stick in my head for sure.
Upon first look Yammer, developed by Geni, looked like an exact duplicate of Twitter, but instead it turned out to be an Enterprise version. From their Crunchbase profile:
Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you working on?”
As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced.
Anyone in a company can start their Yammer network and begin inviting colleagues. The privacy of each network is ensured by limiting access to those with a valid company email address. The basic Yammer service is free. Companies can pay to claim and administer their networks.
Over the past 3 days I’ve been watching TechCrunch50 on Ustream.tv and I have to say I am impressed with some of the companies.
Tonchidot had a very interesting presentation that led to a lot of laughs due to a language barrier between the panelist and the presenter. From TechCrunch50, “Our Sekai Camera (“World Camera” in Japanese) is a real-world interface for the iPhone that connects real and virtual worlds, allowing anybody to create, experience and participate in both.” Here is the demonstration presented at the conference:
I thought the demo was very impressive, believing that the tags were seen only based what the camera was pointed at. As of now, it turns out that the tags show based on GPS location and the direction the camera is facing, not what the camera is pointed at. As you visit locations, you can input tags about what you see. Then when your friends visit the same location they can pull up what was said about the area. It also enables you to view restaurant menus and more information about products in stores.
I think once their site has released more information and the product is developed further it will become very entertaining and valuable. This is one I will be checking up on more in the future.
